Although mercury levels today pose little or no threat to human health, the Bush administration’s proposed “Cap and Trade” rule would be the most effective way to further reduce mercury emissions, according to the Chicago-based Heartland Institute.
The Environmental Protection Agency instead proposes a Maximum Achievable Control Technology rule that observers say would be more costly and is a “one-size-fits-all” approach. In comparing the two measures, the Electric Power Research Institute found Cap and Trade would reduce mercury deposition by an estimated 7 percent, compared to 5 percent under MACT. Cap and Trade would cost about $2 billion, while MACT would cost $10 billion. However, both proposals would decrease mercury levels by only 0.5 percent in women of childbearing age.
Anti-mercury activists say the Ohio River Valley, where many power plants are situated, is a “hot spot” for mercury pollution. But studies indicate that mercury levels in the area are at acceptable EPA levels. The EPRI also reported that most of the mercury deposition in the United States comes not from electric power plants, but incinerators, which would be less effected under the MACT rule.
Teen drinking studies flawed
Federal government reports on the comparison of drinking habits between European and American teen-agers are flawed, says Reason magazine.
Proponents of raising the drinking age continually cite a 2001 study from the U.S. Department of Justice that concluded Europe’s liberal drinking laws contributed to more insobriety among European teenagers compared to the stricter standards for America teens. Yet, the study had flaws. It was not peer-reviewed by other researchers before it was published, and it used outdated data which also excluded France and Germany.
The numbers the DOJ used do not match the claims of its advocates; when comparing the United States to Southern Europe, the report revealed that 21 percent of American teens were drunk over a 30-day time period compared to only 13 percent of European teens. More than half of the American teenagers who reported consuming alcohol had gotten drunk, compared to less than 25 percent of their European counterparts.
A report by the Transportation Department says that raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 saved 927 lives in 2001, but observers argue that a claim that specific cannot be made without knowing what would have happened without rising the drinking age. In fact, many studies cannot confirm a cause-and-effect relationship between raising the drinking age and reducing alcohol-related fatalities, although some studies confirm that a few alcohol-related fatalities have shifted from the 18-to 21-age group to the 21-to-24 age group.
Hospital report cards work
In schools, report cards are given to students to stimulate better academic performance. This same idea has been applied to hospitals that provide cardiac surgery to patients. A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that these hospital report cards are effective.
The authors analyzed the Cardiac Surgery Reporting System, the nation’s longest-standing effort to measure and report health-care quality. The CSRS collects data on clinical outcomes and the health history of the patient before the operation. Using CSRS data from 1991 to 1999 the authors find that the reporting program has both influenced patients’ decisions and improved quality of care.
Those hospitals with low mortality rates see a positive flow of patients in the first year following a report, but this increase declines soon after.
In contrast, those hospitals identified publicly as offering relatively low-quality surgery experienced a decline of 10 percent in the number of patients during the first 12 month after an initial report and remained at that level for three years. Their risk-adjusted mortality rate, however, declined significantly, about 1.2 percentage points.